Wat Yan Yaw...remembering the tsunami
We came down from Eastern Thailand, as soon as we had enough money, to help after the tsunami. We ended up at Wat Yan Yaw, the main temple where they were processing bodies. Our time there was like being in a nightmare, a tragic and frightening one.
We went back to the temple last week, and walked around the grounds. They had put fill dirt in, throughout the entire temple area. It was so strange to see the refrigerated body containers gone, the mounds of donated goods gone, the room of computers gone, and all the people, soldiers, doctors, volunteers all gone. No one was there, just a handful of placid monks.
They had some pictures posted, though, and they were extremely graphic, and they brought it all back. There was the destroyed beach area, the bodies, there was where I worked, there was where my husband worked, there was my husband...there he was, all suited up in his white smock, apron, mask, gloves, working among the bodies. No mistaking his tall frame, certain stance, the way he was looking down.
For me, it brought back the family members, looking for their loved ones, their excruciating emotional pain, their deep, fathomless anguish.
We will never, never forget.
We went back to the temple last week, and walked around the grounds. They had put fill dirt in, throughout the entire temple area. It was so strange to see the refrigerated body containers gone, the mounds of donated goods gone, the room of computers gone, and all the people, soldiers, doctors, volunteers all gone. No one was there, just a handful of placid monks.
They had some pictures posted, though, and they were extremely graphic, and they brought it all back. There was the destroyed beach area, the bodies, there was where I worked, there was where my husband worked, there was my husband...there he was, all suited up in his white smock, apron, mask, gloves, working among the bodies. No mistaking his tall frame, certain stance, the way he was looking down.
For me, it brought back the family members, looking for their loved ones, their excruciating emotional pain, their deep, fathomless anguish.
We will never, never forget.
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